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46th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2015)
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THE MINERALOGY AND PETROLOGY OF ANOMALOUS EUCRITE EMMAVILLE. T. J. Barrett1, D.
W. Mittlefehldt2, D. K. Ross3,2, R. C. Greenwood1, M. Anand1,4, I. A. Franchi1, M. M. Grady1, and B. L. A. Charlier1. 1Department of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK (Email:
thomas.barrett@open.ac.uk), 2Astromaterials Research Office, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, 77058,
USA, 3Jacobs Technology, 2224 Bay Area Blvd. Houston Tx 77058, USA, 4Department of Earth Sciences, Natural
History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK.
Introduction: It has long been known that certain
basaltic achondrites share similarities with eucrites.
These eucrite-like achondrites have distinct isotopic
compositions and petrologic characteristics indicative
of formation on a separate parent body from the HED
clan (e.g., Ibitira, Northwest Africa (NWA) 011 [15]). Others show smaller isotopic variations but are
otherwise petrologically and compositionally indistinguishable from basaltic eucrites (e.g., Pasamonte, Pecora Escarpment (PCA) 91007 [3, 4, 6]).
The Emmaville eucrite has a Δ17O value of -0.137 ±
0.024 ‰ (1σ) [7], which is substantially different from
the eucrite mean of -0.246 ± 0.014 ‰ (2σ) [8], but
similar to those of A-881394 [6] and Bunburra Rockhole (BR) [9] (Fig. 1).
Space Center. Beam conditions included an accelerating voltage of 20 kV, and beam current of 40 nA for
pyroxene, with a spot size set to ~0.01 µm (giving an
excitation volume of ~1 µm). Plagioclase was analyzed
with a 15 kV, 20 nA beam, and 3 m spot size.
Results: Emmaville is an unusually fine-grained,
hornfelsic-textured metabasalt (Fig. 2). The mineralogy
is comprised mainly of low-Ca pyroxene, high-Ca pyroxene, plagioclase and a silica phase, identified as
being quartz by Raman spectroscopy.
Fig. 1 Oxygen isotope composition of anomalous
achondrites shown in relation to HEDs, Angrites and
Main-group pallasites. Data compiled from [4, 6, 7, 8,
10, 11, 12].
Fig. 2 Back scatter electron (BSE) image of Emmaville
showing melt veins and fusion crust. Pyx = pyroxene,
Plag = plagioclase.
Currently little data exist for Emmaville in terms of
petrology or bulk composition [13, 14, 15]. Studying
anomalous eucrites allows us to more completely understand the numbers of asteroids represented by eucrite-like basalts and thus constrain the heterogeneity
of the HED suite. In this study, we present our preliminary petrological and mineral composition results for
Emmaville.
Samples and Analytical Approach: Analyses
were conducted on two polished thin sections of Emmaville using a JEOL8530F field emission election
probe microanalyzer (EPMA) at the NASA Johnson
Pyroxene and plagioclase grains are typically 10 –
30 µm across, but some regions have noticeable coarser grain size of ~100 µm in the longest dimension. Minor phases include the opaque minerals ilmenite,
chromite and troilite. Emmaville also contains melt
veins ~100 µm wide running through the length of both
sections analysed. Despite the very fine-grained texture
of Emmaville suggestive of rapid cooling, the sample
has undergone extensive thermal equilibration with
larger low-Ca pyroxene grains showing coarse exsolution of augite and smaller grains being completely recrystallized to orthopyroxene and augite grains
(En35Fs61Wo4; En30Fs28Wo42) (Fig. 3).
46th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2015)
Fig. 3 Pyroxene ternary for Emmaville. Composition
data for EET 87520, Sioux County and Stannern are
taken from [16].
Inversion of pigeonite to orthopyroxene typifies
type 6 eucrites rather than type 5, the designation of
Emmaville given in [17]. We suspect that some of the
low-Ca pyroxene has inverted to orthopyroxene on the
basis of optical properties, pyroxene compositional
data and Raman spectroscopy. Thus, Emmaville might
be a type 6 eucrite-like basalt. The Fe/Mn ratios of
Emmaville pyroxenes (Fig. 4) plot within the normal
range of basaltic eucrites. The plagioclase is also similar in composition to basaltic eucrites (An83-93).
Fig. 4 Pyroxene Fe/Mn vs. Fe/Mg diagram. Basaltic
eucrite, Cumulate eucrite, Diogenite and Ibitira data
taken from [16].
Discussion: With mineral compositions currently
seemingly indistinguishable from ordinary basaltic
eucrites there are three possible explanations to reconcile the difference in O isotopes with that of normal
HEDs. The three possible explanations are: 1) The
HED parent body is not as well homogenized as was
previously considered [3, 4, 6, 8, 17], 2) Emmaville is
from a separate parent body which was of similar composition to and underwent similar processes as the
HED parent body [6] or 3) there is impactor material
incorporated into Emmaville that affected its bulk O
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isotopic composition [4]. Element maps of Emmaville
sections studied here show no clear evidence of any
exogenous material and our preliminary data suggests
the mineral compositions are similar to other basaltic
eucrites. Thus, it appears unlikely that Emmaville contains any significant impactor material which could
have affected the O isotopes. Bunburra Rockhole, A881394, EET 92023 and Emmaville all have a distinct
oxygen isotope composition despite having similar
petrology and mineral compositions to that of the HED
parent body. On a plot of Δ17O vs. ɛ54Cr both A881394 and BR form a distinct cluster that is fully resolvable from normal eucrites [18]. The ɛ54Cr composition of Emmaville and EET 92023 have not yet been
determined, but on the basis of their similar oxygen
isotope compositions it seems possible that all four
samples (BR, A-881394, Emmaville and EET 92023)
are derived from a single HED-like parent body that is
isotopically distinct from that of the HEDs (Vesta?). It
is also possible that the HED parent body is more heterogeneous than previously thought. Further work will
test these hypotheses.
References: [1] Yamaguchi A. et al. (2002) Science, 296, 334–336. [2] Floss C. et al. (2005) Meteoritics & Planet. Sci., 40, 343-360. [3] Wiechert U. H. et
al. (2004) EPSL, 221, 373–382. [4] Greenwood R. C.
et al. (2005) Nature, 435, 916-918. [5] Mittlefehldt D.
W. (2005) Meteoritics & Planet. Sci., 40, 665-677. [6]
Scott, E. R. D. et al. (2009) GCA, 73, 5835-5835. [7]
Greenwood R. C. et al. (2013) LPSC XXXXIV, Abstract #3048. [8] Greenwood R. C. et al. (2014) EPSL,
390, 165-174. [9] Bland. P. A. et al. (2009) Science,
325, 1525-1527. [10] Janotes E. et al. (2012) MAPS,
47, 1558-1574. [11] Greenwood R. C. et al. (2012)
LPSC XXXXIII, Abstract #2711. [12] Greenwood R. C.
et al. (2015) GCA, Submitted. [13] Morgan J. W. and
Lovering (1973) GCA, 37, 1697-1707. [14] Mason B.
(1974) RAM, 29, 169-186. [15] Stolper E. (1977)
GCA, 41, 587-611. [16] Mittlefehldt D. W. (2014)
Chem. Erde, in press. [17] Takeda H. Graham A. L.
(1991) Meteoritics, 26, 129-134. [18] Bendix G. K. et
al. (2014) LPSC XXXXIV, Abstract #1650.
Aknowledgements: This work was funded in part
by STFC for studentship and the Royal Astronomical
Society (to TJB) and the NASA Cosmochemistry Program (to DWM). We thank IAF for oxygen work
(Grant ST/1001964/1). We would like to thank Caroline Smith at the Natural History Museum, London UK
and Linda Welzenbach at the Smithsonian Institute for
samples without which this work would not be possible. Thanks also go to Feargus Abernethy for his help
and advice on Raman Spectroscopy.